{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7220133471","doi":null,"title":"Syntactic Complexity and Lexical Density in EFL Academic Writing: A Corpus-Based Investigation of Developmental Patterns","display_name":"Syntactic Complexity and Lexical Density in EFL Academic Writing: A Corpus-Based Investigation of Developmental Patterns","publication_year":2025,"publication_date":"2025-12-03","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7220133471"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"pmh:oai:llrjournal.com:article/348","doi":null,"is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/view/348","pdf_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/download/348/346","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S7407075297","display_name":"Liberal Journal of Language & Literature Review","issn_l":"3006-5887","issn":["3006-5887","3006-5895"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"3006-5887","raw_type":"info:eu-repo/semantics/article"},"volume":null,"type":"article","is_traditional":true,"indexed_in":[],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"diamond","oa_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/download/348/346","any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5120853106","display_name":"Ayesha Saddique","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4405283630","display_name":"Government Graduate College, Mandi Bahauddin","ror":"https://ror.org/0209pjd18","country_code":"PK","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I4405283630"]}],"countries":["PK"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Ayesha Saddique","raw_affiliation_strings":["Department of English, Govt. Post Graduate College for Women, Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Pakistan"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Department of English, Govt. Post Graduate College for Women, Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Pakistan","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4405283630"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5143487362","display_name":"Mohammad Aafaq Nadeem","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I142204992","display_name":"University of Lahore","ror":"https://ror.org/051jrjw38","country_code":"PK","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I142204992"]}],"countries":["PK"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Mohammad Aafaq Nadeem","raw_affiliation_strings":["The University of Lahore Sargodha Campus"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"The University of Lahore Sargodha Campus","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I142204992"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5157156196","display_name":"Muhammad Danish","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I142204992","display_name":"University of Lahore","ror":"https://ror.org/051jrjw38","country_code":"PK","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I142204992"]}],"countries":["PK"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Muhammad Danish","raw_affiliation_strings":["The University of Lahore Sargodha Campus"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"The University of Lahore Sargodha Campus","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I142204992"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":2,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.64226833,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11587","display_name":"Second Language Acquisition and Learning","score":0.7964000105857849,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3204","display_name":"Developmental and Educational Psychology"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/32","display_name":"Psychology"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11587","display_name":"Second Language Acquisition and Learning","score":0.7964000105857849,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3204","display_name":"Developmental and Educational Psychology"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/32","display_name":"Psychology"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10366","display_name":"Discourse Analysis in Language Studies","score":0.1371999979019165,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3310","display_name":"Linguistics and Language"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10021","display_name":"EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning","score":0.06019999831914902,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1203","display_name":"Language and Linguistics"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/12","display_name":"Arts and Humanities"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/syntactic-complexity","display_name":"syntactic complexity","score":0.996999979019165},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/lexical-density","display_name":"lexical density","score":1.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/efl-academic-writing","display_name":"EFL academic writing","score":0.9390000104904175},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/argumentative-essay","display_name":"argumentative essay","score":0.6909999847412109},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/complex-nominals","display_name":"complex nominals","score":0.6499999761581421},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/nominalization","display_name":"nominalization","score":0.9509999752044678},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/writing-quality","display_name":"writing quality","score":0.4020000100135803},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/cefr-proficiency-levels","display_name":"CEFR proficiency levels","score":0.8180000185966492}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C55343584","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1312005","display_name":"Lexical density","level":3,"score":0.8057000041007996},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2781306805","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4789761","display_name":"Argumentative","level":2,"score":0.8012999892234802},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41895202","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8162","display_name":"Linguistics","level":1,"score":0.7677000164985657},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C168725872","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q991663","display_name":"Sophistication","level":2,"score":0.4934000074863434},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.491100013256073},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119867837","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4119870","display_name":"Academic writing","level":2,"score":0.4887999892234802},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C60048249","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37437","display_name":"Syntax","level":2,"score":0.4675999879837036},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C126706616","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2944660","display_name":"Lexical item","level":2,"score":0.42309999465942383},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.4020000100135803},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C207489910","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1201217","display_name":"Interlanguage","level":2,"score":0.39899998903274536},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C15744967","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9418","display_name":"Psychology","level":0,"score":0.38690000772476196},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.37369999289512634},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C532629269","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q865083","display_name":"Corpus linguistics","level":2,"score":0.3474999964237213},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C96455323","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q13955","display_name":"Arabic","level":2,"score":0.3231000006198883},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2778334786","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1586270","display_name":"Variation (astronomy)","level":2,"score":0.3230000138282776},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C114010052","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q150352","display_name":"Foreign language","level":2,"score":0.32120001316070557},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C155092808","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q182557","display_name":"Computational linguistics","level":2,"score":0.3165999948978424},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779192225","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7443730","display_name":"Second language writing","level":3,"score":0.29840001463890076},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C170350167","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1455178","display_name":"Second-language acquisition","level":2,"score":0.28769999742507935},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2987567764","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q125421","display_name":"Second language","level":2,"score":0.2784000039100647},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C26022165","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8091","display_name":"Grammar","level":2,"score":0.27730000019073486},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2778883600","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2390977","display_name":"Language proficiency","level":2,"score":0.27480000257492065},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C8795937","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11862829","display_name":"Discipline","level":2,"score":0.26330000162124634},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C194926167","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6554066","display_name":"Linguistic sequence complexity","level":2,"score":0.26330000162124634},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2781202465","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18346297","display_name":"Lexical diversity","level":3,"score":0.2623000144958496},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C26517878","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q228039","display_name":"Key (lock)","level":2,"score":0.26190000772476196},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C132165367","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34049","display_name":"Semitic languages","level":3,"score":0.26030001044273376},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C101433766","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3543263","display_name":"Maturity (psychological)","level":2,"score":0.25540000200271606},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C153578388","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q351625","display_name":"Theoretical linguistics","level":2,"score":0.25290000438690186},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C176982825","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q835922","display_name":"Lexical analysis","level":2,"score":0.25270000100135803},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C192209626","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q190909","display_name":"Focus (optics)","level":2,"score":0.2517000138759613},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C74672266","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q815859","display_name":"Language acquisition","level":2,"score":0.25119999051094055}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"pmh:oai:llrjournal.com:article/348","doi":null,"is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/view/348","pdf_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/download/348/346","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S7407075297","display_name":"Liberal Journal of Language & Literature Review","issn_l":"3006-5887","issn":["3006-5887","3006-5895"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"3006-5887","raw_type":"info:eu-repo/semantics/article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"pmh:oai:llrjournal.com:article/348","doi":null,"is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/view/348","pdf_url":"https://llrjournal.com/index.php/11/article/download/348/346","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S7407075297","display_name":"Liberal Journal of Language & Literature Review","issn_l":"3006-5887","issn":["3006-5887","3006-5895"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":null,"host_organization_name":null,"host_organization_lineage":[],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"3006-5887","raw_type":"info:eu-repo/semantics/article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/4","score":0.6164000034332275,"display_name":"Quality education"}],"study_designs":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":true,"pdf":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W7220133471.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W7220133471.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":19,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1971020201","https://openalex.org/W2124812340","https://openalex.org/W2164777277","https://openalex.org/W2612510536","https://openalex.org/W2790130598","https://openalex.org/W3164515305","https://openalex.org/W4310792531","https://openalex.org/W4313574222","https://openalex.org/W4386570966","https://openalex.org/W4387450483","https://openalex.org/W4387941549","https://openalex.org/W4389450139","https://openalex.org/W4402232432","https://openalex.org/W4407868022","https://openalex.org/W4415107800","https://openalex.org/W4416297284","https://openalex.org/W4416340885","https://openalex.org/W7083625920","https://openalex.org/W7105590438"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4323316148","https://openalex.org/W7140158309","https://openalex.org/W4399361440","https://openalex.org/W4310792531","https://openalex.org/W4385875029","https://openalex.org/W7127584070","https://openalex.org/W6948198701","https://openalex.org/W7071027046","https://openalex.org/W7092186277","https://openalex.org/W7155642733"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"This":[0],"study":[1],"investigates":[2],"syntactic":[3,70],"complexity":[4,167],"and":[5,40,46,60,72,151,177,195,204],"lexical":[6,73,152,202],"density":[7,74,110,153],"in":[8],"academic":[9,174],"writing":[10,157,175,206],"by":[11,104,199],"Arabic":[12],"L-1":[13],"learners":[14,35,134],"of":[15,29,87,156,162,172,184],"English":[16],"as":[17,154,168,180],"Foreign":[18],"Language":[19],"(EFL)":[20],"through":[21],"a":[22,81,118,169,181],"corpus-based":[23],"methodology.":[24],"A":[25],"350,":[26],"000-word":[27],"dataset":[28],"argumentative":[30],"essays":[31],"was":[32,51],"compiled":[33],"from":[34,90,113],"at":[36,92,96,121,129,135],"CEFR":[37],"B1,":[38],"B2,":[39],"C1,":[41,97],"evenly":[42],"distributed":[43],"across":[44],"humanities":[45],"material":[47],"sciences.":[48],"Automated":[49],"analysis":[50],"conducted":[52],"using":[53],"the":[54,76,173],"L2":[55],"Syntactic":[56],"Complexity":[57],"Analyzer":[58],"(L2SCA)":[59],"AntConc,":[61],"with":[62,117],"Stanford":[63],"POS":[64],"tagging":[65],"applied":[66],"to":[67,94,115,126,190],"calculate":[68],"14":[69],"indices":[71],"via":[75],"Ure":[77],"formula.":[78],"Results":[79],"revealed":[80],"progressive":[82],"developmental":[83],"trajectory:":[84],"mean":[85],"length":[86],"T-unit":[88],"increased":[89],"12.87":[91],"B1":[93],"19.04":[95],"while":[98],"complex":[99,149],"nominals":[100,150],"per":[101],"clause":[102,107],"rose":[103],"84%,":[105],"surpassing":[106],"elaboration.":[108],"Lexical":[109],"also":[111],"advanced":[112],"48.7":[114],"56.3":[116],"competitive":[119],"relationship":[120],"B2":[122,179],"(r":[123,131],"=.32)":[124],"shifting":[125],"positive":[127],"synergy":[128],"C1":[130],"=.56).":[132],"Humanities":[133],"higher":[136],"proficiency":[137],"levels":[138],"produced":[139],"more":[140],"nominal":[141],"structures":[142],"than":[143],"science":[144],"learners.":[145],"Multiple":[146],"regression":[147],"identified":[148],"predictors":[155],"quality,":[158],"accounting":[159],"for":[160],"58%":[161],"variance.":[163],"Findings":[164],"show":[165],"phrasal":[166],"key":[170],"marker":[171],"maturity":[176],"designate":[178],"critical":[182],"stage":[183],"linguistic":[185],"restructuring.":[186],"The":[187],"research":[188],"contributes":[189],"second":[191],"language":[192],"development":[193],"theory":[194],"informs":[196],"EFL":[197],"pedagogy":[198],"emphasizing":[200],"nominalization,":[201],"sophistication":[203],"disciplinary":[205],"performance.":[207]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-11-07T11:25:07.637180","created_date":"2026-10-05T00:00:00"}